


Lie Awake, Only Hoping They're Okay

by infinitemelrose



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Things get weird, changing timelines, lots of different universes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 11:39:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12131658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinitemelrose/pseuds/infinitemelrose
Summary: What starts off as a normal evening for Daniel Howell rapidly turns most decidedly abnormal. Nothing is quite as it seems, and Dan is left wondering when, if ever, his life will be normal again. (Title from "Infinity" by One Direction).





	Lie Awake, Only Hoping They're Okay

Dan looked up from his phone, the email to his professor sent. When the familiar walls of the rec center stared back at him, he was immediately confused.

I left the rec five minutes ago, he thought.

Confused, he continued walking, not noticing that he was walking directly away from the residence halls where he was originally headed. A boy in a white shirt ran past him, seemingly training for a race or sport. Dan kept walking, barely noticing as the lights above his head changed from the familiar bright white of the campus lights to a dull pinky orange. He heard footsteps behind him, and when he turned around, an older gentleman, appearing to be a professor, was walking behind him, carrying a tied-up grocery bag.

Suddenly, the same boy in the same white shirt ran past him again, running in the same direction. Dan grew more uneasy and proceeded to walk a bit faster, still unsure of where he was headed. He turned around once more and the professor was gone. There was nowhere for him to have gone- the sidewalk had no side streets, no forks, no turning points. He simply vanished.

The tall student looked to his right and saw the same campus building he had been at when the boy in the white shirt passed him for the first time. He kept walking, but was confused when the sidewalk turned into a parking lot- he was now in a parking structure that he had no knowledge of entering. As quickly as Daniel was in the structure, he had exited. This was getting weird. He had spent twenty minutes walking but was no closer to his destination than he was when he left the rec center. 

I need to get back to my room, he thought. I just need to get back. 

Dan’s feet seemed to take him further faster all of a sudden. Mere minutes later, he was back at his residence hall, which was a fifteen-minute walk on a good day. He climbed the stairs to his room slowly, trying to process what had just happened to him. When Dan got to his room, he tried to unlock the door, but to no avail. His key simply was not working. He knocked on the door, hoping his roommate, PJ, would be there to let him in.

A strange man opened the door, someone Dan had never met or seen before. Dan stared at his striking black hair and blue eyes in confusion.

"Are you a friend of Chris?" he asked groggily, as if the curly haired boy had woken him up. "It's quite rude for you to be knocking so loudly at this hour," he continued, as Dan just kept staring. 

"You're not my roommate," Dan blurted out, awkwardly as ever. 

"Thank you, captain obvious, for that stunning realization," the stranger said, with a tired snark in his voice. "Since I am obviously not your roommate, care to tell me why you're banging on my door at-" he checked his watch "-four o clock in the morning?"

Dan was now more confused than ever. It had been no later than 8:30 when he left the rec center. How was it now 4 am?

"I.... I'm looking for PJ. He's my roommate. We live in this room," he tried to explain, deciding not to mention the time. "I wasn't trying to wake you up, I swear. I don't know who you are, I've just had a weird night and I swear this is my room and-"

The stranger cuts off Dan’s rambling. "Are you drunk?" he asked bluntly. "Because you're obviously underage, and you're going to get in big trouble if an RA catches you." The disapproval was clear in his eyes.

"I'm not drunk, or high, or anything else, I swear!" the younger boy proclaimed, almost on the verge of tears at this point.

He seemed to notice how distraught Dan was, and his face immediately softened. “Look, kid,” he said, “I’m not sure what kind of trouble you’ve been up to tonight, but you seem pretty freaked out about it. Why don’t you come in and you can crash here for the night? Chris and I have a futon, it’s not the best thing in the world, but at least it’s something?” He faded off at the end, uncertain of the other’s response. 

He considered his options. Obviously, this was not Dan’s room, no matter how much he thought it was. This stranger, as weird as the situation was, was offering him a place to stay. Maybe in the morning, Dan thought, things will be back to normal.

“Thanks, I’d appreciate it,” Dan said, with a blush spreading across his face. “I’m Dan, by the way,” he said, introducing himself to the raven-haired man as he let him in the room. It looked so much like Dan’s room, and yet so different. He didn’t understand what was going on.

“It’s no problem,” said the other man, as Dan was lost in his ponderings. “I’m Phil, it’s nice to meet you. Here’s the futon,” he added, awkwardly gesturing to the obvious couch in the middle of the room.

Dan started to sit down, and Phil turned to go back to his own bed. Before he made it though, he stopped and turned around. “Wait,” he said.

Dan looked up at him in confusion. “Yeah?”

“I know you said you’re not drunk or high,” Phil started.

“I’m not!” Dan said, interrupting Phil’s sentence.

“I wasn’t saying you were!” the other man continued. “I was just wondering if maybe you hit your head or something. Maybe you have a concussion, and that’s why you’re so confused.”

Dan thought about it, but he couldn’t remember hitting his head. “I don’t think so? I was just walking back from the rec center when everything started going weird.”

“Do you know what day it is?” Phil probed.

“Yeah,” Dan said. “It’s September 18.”

“What year?”

“2017,” Dan said, trailing off when he saw the look on Phil’s face. “Is that not right?”

“No, you’re right,” Phil said. “I’m just not sure how you got mixed up on the room numbers and the time. What’s your room number?”

Dan recited his building and room number, and Phil just grew more confused. “That’s exactly the room we’re in right now,” he said, “but there’s no way that you and someone named PJ live here. Chris and I moved in almost a month ago.”

Suddenly, the events of the night hit Dan like a ton of bricks. “Can we try and figure this out in the morning?” he asked. “I’m half asleep, and I’m sure you are too.”

“Sure,” Phil said, still looking perplexed. “I’ll be right over here, let me know if you need anything.”

As Dan dozed off into a fitful sleep, hundreds of questions ran through his head. His consciousness fading away, he hoped to find answers in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> The beginning of this chapter is actually based on a really weird experience I had walking on campus recently. Up until Dan coming back to his room and not being able to get in, that was my own walk back from the rec center. I was so baffled by it that I decided to try and write about it!


End file.
